Poiret junior left the office regularly at four o'clock.

As he walked along, the sun's rays reflected from the pavements and walls produced a tropical heat; he felt that his head was inundated,--he, who never perspired! Feeling that he was ill, or on the point of being so, instead of going as usual to the Sucking Calf he went home, drew out from his desk the journal of his life, and recorded the fact in the following manner:-- "To-day, July 3, 1823, overtaken by extraordinary perspiration, a sign, perhaps, of the sweating-sickness, a malady which prevails in Champagne.

I am about to consult Doctor Haudry.

The disease first appeared as I reached the highest part of the quai des Ecoles." Suddenly, having taken off his hat, he became aware that the mysterious sweat had some cause independent of his own person.

He wiped his face, examined the hat, and could find nothing, for he did not venture to take out the lining.